In Your Dreams

Story

Stevie (voiced by Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) thinks that her family is perfect. But she has noticed that things have been changing, as her parents argue more and grow distant from each other. When her mother gets a job out of town, Stevie becomes scared that her parents are going to split up.

Trying to keep their family together, Stevie and her little brother Elliot (voiced by Elias Janssen) dive into the land of their own dreams to find the Sandman (voiced by Omid Djalili); a magical being who can make their dreams come true.

As the siblings delve deeper into their dreams and nightmares to resolve their family conflict, they begin to realise that not everything is as it seems.

Themes

Family conflict; parental separation; dreams and nightmares; fantasy, sibling relationships

Violence

In Your Dreams has some violence. For example:

Characters are injured in slapstick ways, like falling or smacking into walls and other objects. No-one is actually hurt.
Several times, Stevie expresses resentment towards Elliot for changing their family dynamic and being annoying.
Elliot tries to help in the kitchen. This causes Stevie to knock a hot pan, which burns her and ends up on the floor. She gets angry at him and locks him out of the room.
An old lady chases Stevie and Elliot and stabs at them with a knife.
Elliot and several other children beat up a character in a parrot costume. The scene is presented in a funny way.
A character punches the Sandman in the face and knocks him out.
In a scary dream sequence, whack-a-mole toys say, ‘I’m sorry I have to bash your face in!’ Then they smack a hammer on the children and wake them up.
Stevie hits her head hard on the bed, falling backwards in pain.

Sexual references

In Your Dreams has some sexual references. For example:

Stevie swoons over an older teenage boy.
A small blob creature does a twerking dance. Another character says that this is ‘just wrong’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

In Your Dreams has no use of substances.

Nudity and sexual activity

In Your Dreams has some nudity. For example, Stevie and Elliot are shown naked in a non-sexual, humorous way in the context of a ‘fear of being naked in public’ dream. Their genitals are hidden from view or blurred out.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in In Your Dreams.

Coarse language

In Your Dreams has some coarse language, including ‘You suck!’, ‘crappy’, ‘turd’ and ‘God’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

In Your Dreams is a heartfelt animated movie that manages to balance themes of family conflict with humour in a refreshing way.

Because of its scary scenes and themes, we don’t recommend In Your Dreams for children under 8 years. We also recommend parental guidance for children aged up to 11 years because of the movie’s heavy themes of family conflict and parental separation. Children older than this who are particularly sensitive might also need parental guidance. It’s also worth noting that the movie has several strobe lighting sequences.

The main message from In Your Dreams is that life isn’t always perfect, but you can rely on each other to get you through big changes.

Values in In Your Dreams that you could reinforce with their children include:

overcoming your fears
valuing your family
accepting others for who they are.

In Your Dreams could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like the following:

Stevie and Elliot’s parents say that no matter what happens between them, they’ll always be a family and love their children. You could talk with your children about family relationships in difficult times.
Stevie ends up in hospital, and this brings her family back together. Does this plot point have any problematic implications?
The movie is mainly about young children struggling with parental separation. It’s worth noting that the movie might be distressing for children in a similar situation.